Obama Seeks to Rekindle Faded Iowa Magic on 3-Day Tour

By Margaret Talev -
Aug 13, 2012

President Barack Obama often says
Iowa holds a special place in his heart. Iowans in 2008 lifted
him from underdog presidential hopeful to Democratic caucus
winner, and gave him 54 percent of the vote in that year’s
general election.

He began a three-day bus tour through the state today on
less sure footing, with polls showing Iowa up for grabs in
November. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sent his
newly-announced running mate, Representative Paul Ryan of
Wisconsin, to the Iowa State Fair today to try to steal some of
Obama’s thunder.

Obama is using Ryan’s presence to make the argument that
Republicans are obstructionists, saying the lawmaker is “one of
the leaders of Congress standing in the way” of passing a farm
bill that would provide relief from the drought.

“So, if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how
important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities,”
Obama said at a campaign rally in Council Bluffs.

Obama’s schedule in Iowa represents a significant
investment of time in a swing state that’s worth just six
electoral votes, a fraction of Ohio’s 18 or Florida’s 29.

His itinerary also reflects a tradition of presidential
candidates engaging one-on-one with voters in the state.

Door-to-Door

“Iowa is a state that’s won on the ground, going door to
door, neighbors talking to neighbors and candidates talking
directly to Iowans,” said Obama’s Iowa communications director
Erin Seidler.

The president’s visit also comes as polling shows a close
contest in Iowa between Obama, 51, and Romney, 65, who
campaigned in Iowa last week. Obama leads Romney 45.3 percent to
44.3 percent in an average of four state polls since May
compiled by the website Real Clear Politics.

The trip shows Obama is concerned about his slipping
popularity, according to Romney Iowa strategist David Kochel.

“A state he won by nine points four years ago is requiring
a three-day bus tour,” Kochel said. “He’s trying to address
what is a lot of buyer’s remorse out here.”

Iowans “feel responsible for launching President Obama,”
he said. “He’s trying to capture some of the magic from four
years ago, but the thrill is gone.”

Close Contest

Des Moines pollster J. Ann Selzer, whose firm conducts
surveys for Bloomberg News, said Obama’s decision to spend three
consecutive days in Iowa suggests that “he thinks it’s that
close,” and also that he thinks he can “rekindle the fire.”

“Every list that talks about how he gets to the number of
electoral votes he needs includes Iowa,” Selzer said. “It’s
part psychological for him to come back to a place that felt
like maybe it represents the people who understood the promise
of his candidacy in 2008 but who also felt disappointment that
the promise wasn’t exactly delivered.”

In speaking to supporters, Obama sought to reestablish the
connections he made four years ago.

“I love being back in Iowa,” Obama said in Council
Bluffs. Early in the 2008 campaign “you believed me and I
believed in you,” he said.

Ryan at Fair

While Obama made his second stop, at a farm in Missouri
Valley, Iowa, Ryan was at the state fair in Des Moines, about
130 miles (210 kilometers) away. He criticized government
spending under Obama’s administration and said the president’s
policies are stifling growth.

Romney “is a man who actually knows how to create jobs,”
Ryan said. Obama plans to go to the fair later today.

Romney is campaigning today in Florida, another crucial
swing state.

Obama added Ryan to his standard campaign message on taxes
and the economy.

While calling him a “good man,” Obama said Ryan is “the
ideological leader” of congressional Republicans, who he blamed
for obstructing measures to boost the nation’s economic recovery
and for pushing to roll back regulations.

“He’s an articulate spokesman” for Romney’s vision, Obama
said. “But that vision is one that I fundamentally disagree
with.”

Iowa Issues

Obama hit topics of particular interest in Iowa, including
extending a wind-energy tax credit that’s popular in the state,
which has the second highest wind power capacity in the U.S.
Romney opposes the credit.

The president also talked about the drought that’s
affecting farmers, and his administration announced $170 million
in government meat and poultry purchases to help farmers and
ranchers. Obama touted the economic impact on the agriculture
industry of trade agreements he’s signed. Iowa is the leading
U.S. producer of corn, soybeans, pork and ethanol.

The bus tour was moving from west to east, through Council
Bluffs, Boone, Oskaloosa, Marshalltown, Waterloo, Dubuque and
Davenport. The stops encompass Republican- and Democrat-
dominated parts of the state, areas where Latinos represent a
growing share of the vote, and local economies shaped by wind
energy, agriculture and manufacturing.

Seidler said Romney’s opposition to extending the wind
energy manufacturing tax credits and lack of engagement with
congressional Republicans on the U.S. farm bill, set to expire
in September, makes him vulnerable in traditionally Republican
parts of the state.

Wind Appeal

“Wind and agriculture are very tangible things to
Iowans,” Seidler said. “The base of our economy is renewable
fuels and agriculture and manufacturing.”

Iowa got 15.4 percent of its power from wind in 2010, and
the industry supports directly and indirectly 4,000 to 5,000
jobs in the state, according to the American Wind Energy
Association.

There are about 75,000 U.S. wind-industry workers,
including jobs in manufacturing, according to the association.
Letting the credit expire will lead to the elimination of 10,000
wind-industry jobs this year and another 27,000 in 2013, the
Washington-based trade group estimates.

While Iowa’s jobless rate was 5.2 percent in June, below
the nation’s 8.2 percent rate, the state was 13th on the
Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States index for improving
economic health from the first quarter of 2011 to the first
quarter of this year.

The index combines data on tax collections, personal
income, employment, home prices, mortgage foreclosures and stock
performance of companies located in a state.

Kochel said Romney is engaged on farm issues and that
Iowans are most concerned about the economy, the direction of
the country and government debt. He said Romney’s policies would
benefit wind-energy manufacturers by reducing regulations and
reducing taxes on corporations.

“We’re going to fight for every inch of this state,” he
said.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Margaret Talev in Missouri Valley, Iowa at
mtalev@bloomberg.net